"Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants."
EP
Epictetus
20 quotes
Quotes by Epictetus
"Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control."
"Whoever is going to listen to the philosophers needs a considerable practice in listening."
"Only the educated are free."
"It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which we can control. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous -- even death is terrible only if we fear it."
"When a youth was giving himself airs in the Theatre and saying, 'I am wise, for I have conversed with many wise men,' Epictetus replied, 'I too have conversed with many rich men, yet I am not rich!’."
"There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will."
"Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it."
"No man is free who is not master of himself."
"Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant."
"What really frightens and dismays us is not external events themselves, but the way in which we think about them. It is not things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance."
"Know you not that a good man does nothing for appearance sake, but for the sake of having done right?"
"Not every difficult and dangerous thing is suitable for training, but only that which is conducive to success in achieving the object of our effort."
"Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control."
"If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, "He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone."
"Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control."
"I must die. Must I then die lamenting? I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament? I must go into exile. Does any man then hinder me from going with smiles and cheerfulness and contentment?"
"As a man, casting off worn out garments taketh new ones, so the dweller in the body, entereth into ones that are new."
"We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope."
"Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope."